News

Nash scores 2 of Rangers' 3 goals in 1st; New York rolls to 4-1 win over Capitals

New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist (30) leaves the crease to defend Washington Capitals center Brooks Laich (21) in the first period of an NHL hockey game at Madison Square Garden in New York, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Author: The Hockey News

News

Nash scores 2 of Rangers' 3 goals in 1st; New York rolls to 4-1 win over Capitals

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Henrik Lundqvist is playing so well lately, the New York Rangers' don't have to generate a whole lot of offence to win.

With speed throughout the lineup and a power play that is clicking on a nightly basis, it is no wonder why the Rangers are on quite a roll.

Rick Nash scored two of New York's three first-period goals, and Lundqvist won for the fifth time in six outings as the surging Rangers beat the sliding Washington Capitals 4-1 on Sunday night.

"Starts are important," Lundqvist said. "If you can jump out and start the right way and then get the momentum, then I think you set the tone for the rest of the game and you gain confidence right away."

The Rangers' offence broke out for the second straight day, after winning 1-0 over Detroit on Thursday. They recorded four goals for the third time in five games.

Lundqvist, who got the day off when New York won 4-1 at Ottawa on Saturday, was sharp in making 24 saves. He has allowed fewer than three goals in six consecutive starts. New York, 11-3-1 in its last 15 games, improved to 12-11-3 at home.

"It was a tough back-to-back for us," Nash said of the Rangers' weekend sweep. "Travelling (Saturday) and coming home to a team that is right on our heels ... it's a huge four points."

Washington dropped its fifth straight (0-3-2) and completed a winless three-game trip against Metropolitan Division foes. The second-place Rangers lead the fifth-place Capitals, who have played two fewer games, by five points.

"We're in a slump right now, that's for sure," Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom said. "It's tough, but we've got to find a way to get through it. We've got to start playing way better than we're doing right now."

Nash scored 1:10 in and added a power-play tally later in the first, giving him seven goals in eight games. Derek Stepan also scored in the first to chase goalie Philipp Grubauer. Ryan Callahan added a short-handed goal in the second.

Alex Ovechkin netted the only goal for Washington, which committed four penalties in the second to thwart hopes of a comeback.

"All the experienced guys, we've got to really stick together here and battle through," Backstrom said. "It's tough, but I think we're going to turn this around, and we're going to do it next game. We're going to be much stronger after that."

Despite recording only nine shots in the first, New York carried a 3-0 lead into the intermission.

Nash got the offence churning when he intercepted a clearing attempt by defenceman Dmitry Orlov at the left point and steamed into the Washington zone. He cruised through the left circle, came in alone on Grubauer, shifted to his backhand and lifted in a shot.

After New York killed off Washington's first power play, the Rangers went on a 5-on-3 advantage with 4:13 remaining after Martin Erat and Karl Alzner took hooking penalties 23 seconds apart.

Nash made the most of that and squeezed a shot from the right circle through Grubauer for his team-leading 14th goal at 16:06.

Stepan pushed the lead to three just 2 seconds after Alzner's penalty expired. After breaking a 13-game goal drought Saturday, Stepan netted his second in two days when he snapped in a wrist shot from above the circles.

That ended Grubauer's short night as he was replaced by Braden Holtby. Grubauer was pulled in the first period for the second straight game. He yielded three goals on 14 shots Friday in a loss to Columbus.

"It's not the way I wanted it to go," Grubauer said. "It's my job to stop the puck, and I didn't stop it today."

Washington produced a brief spark when slashing calls against Chris Kreider, in the final minute of the first, and Carl Hagelin in the opening minute of the second, gave the Capitals a two-man advantage and generated a goal.

Ovechkin took a pass from Mike Green in the left circle and one-timed a hard shot that beat Lundqvist at 59 seconds for his NHL-leading 35th goal and fourth in six games. Washington put more pressure on during the second half of the power play, but the Rangers netted the next goal.

Dominic Moore and Callahan raced out on a short-handed 2-on-1 rush, and Moore fired a shot that Holtby deflected back into the slot. The hard-charging Callahan beat Orlov to the puck and slammed a shot in before barrelling into the net.

"You're not going out on the PK and thinking, 'I want to score a goal by any means,'" Callahan said. "I feel like with the guys we have killing, and the speed we have on our killers, if the opportunity presents itself, we are going to go for it."

Green had a goal waved off by a Capitals penalty in the second.

NOTES: Rangers D Ryan McDonagh had two assists. ... The Capitals had failed on 14 straight power plays over six games before Ovechkin's goal. ... Erat was called for three penalties, including one for slashing when he jammed his stick between the legs of a seated Brian Boyle.

News

The Golden Knights have hit another hurdle with their name, this time with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. A trademark request has been rejected, but it doesn’t sound like the team expects a name change.

The Vegas Golden Knights are really having a tough time catching a break in the naming department.

On Wednesday, a trademark request by the Golden Knights was rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in large part because the name and logo were deemed too similar to that of the NCAA’s College of St. Rose Golden Knights.

Yes, that’s right, yet another roadblock between the NHL’s newest franchise and the name Golden Knights.

The first hurdle for the team, and the first real hubbub about the name, came shortly after the naming ceremony in late November. The team had only had the Golden Knights moniker in place for a week when it was reported by The Fayetteville Observer’s Steve DeVane that the U.S. Army was set to review Vegas’ use of the name because it is shared by the Army’s highly decorated parachute team.

And all that came after Vegas owner Bill Foley purposely strayed from his first choice for the team name, Black Knights, in order to avoid any conflict with the U.S. Army’s NCAA athletics programs and after the singular name, Knights, was reportedly avoided in order to forego any conflict with the OHL’s London Knights.

Suffice to say, the naming process has been a headache thus far. However, before those who despise the name and/or logo go celebrating in the streets, it should be noted that the latest naming hurdle likely means nothing in the long run.

“Office actions like this are not at all unusual, and we will proceed with the help of outside counsel in preparing a response to this one,” the statement reads.

In their statement, Vegas also pointed to the shared names of UCLA and Boston, both named the Bruins, Miami and Carolina, both named the Hurricanes, and even pointed out that Vegas and Clarkson share the Golden Knights name. None of this is to mention the MLB’s Texas Rangers and the NHL’s New York Rangers share a name.

“We believe, at the end of the day, all parties will embrace the fact that we are the Vegas Golden Knights and this absolutely will work out,” Craven told Gotz. “I hope people don’t overreact to this at all. We believe everyone will be satisfied. We are only going to enhance the name Golden Knights for everyone. That’s our goal.”

UPDATE: NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly has released the following statement:

“We are currently reviewing the Trademark Office's letter and will prepare a detailed response demonstrating why we continue strongly to believe the Vegas Golden Knights mark should be registered in co-existence with the college registration, just as a number of other nicknames currently co-exist in professional and college sports (particularly where there is no overlap as to the sport for which the nickname is being used). That response is not due until June 7, 2017.

“We consider this a routine matter and it is not our intention to reconsider the name or logo of this franchise. We fully intend to proceed as originally planned, relying on our common law trademark rights as well as our state trademark registrations while we work through the process of addressing the question raised in the federal applications.”

News

The Rangers started the season as one of the league’s hottest teams, but have come back down to earth lately. Getting back on track will be a bit harder without the services of Rick Nash for the next week.

Another year, another ailment for Rick Nash, but luckily for the New York Rangers winger this one won’t be keeping him out of the lineup long-term.

Nash, 32, was forced to the leave the Rangers’ loss to the New York Islanders early on Tuesday, suffering a lower-body ailment that put him out of the game, and an MRI on Wednesday revealed that Nash will be sidelined for somewhere in the neighborhood of one week due to a groin injury.

Considering Nash was forced out of action due to the injury, that he’ll miss only one week is about as good as the news could be. Most Rangers fans would have thought the worst when Nash was forced to leave the game, especially given he missed nearly a quarter of the 2015-16 campaign due to a knee injury.

Being out for a week would force Nash, currently third on the Rangers in scoring behind J.T. Miller and Kevin Hayes with 18 points, to miss anywhere from four to six games, depending when he’s feeling fit to return to action. Only one of those games are divisional games, which is a slight bonus, but the set of games against the Chicago Blackhawks is certainly a pair the Rangers could use Nash for, and getting by the New Jersey Devils and Winnipeg Jets without Nash in the lineup is going to require someone else stepping up.

Nash is in the midst of quite the bounce back season, too. While it may be a far cry from his remarkable 2014-15 campaign in which he scored a career-best 42 goals to go along with 69 points, Nash has already potted 11 goals this season and, prior to his injury, was on pace for another 30-goal campaign.

Even if Nash reaches the 20-goal mark this season, though, it would be a step up from his past campaign. He managed only 15 goals and 36 points in 2015-16, making for the lowest full-season goal total of his career.

Nash isn’t the only injury concern for the Rangers right now, however. New York will also be without Matt Puempel for the foreseeable future due to a concussion and Mika Zibanejad’s broken fibula will likely keep him out of action for at least another month, if not more.

The Rangers, who started the season as one of the league’s hottest teams, are just 4-5-1 in their past 10 games.

Blackhawks emergency backup Eric Semborski gets his own rookie card

News

Blackhawks emergency backup Eric Semborski gets his own rookie card

Eric Semborski landed himself the opportunity of a lifetime when he strapped on the pads as an emergency backup for the Blackhawks, and now Topps has commemorated the moment with a Semborski trading card.

Eric Semborski’s dream came true when he stepped on the ice as an NHL goaltender, albeit an emergency backup, on Dec. 3, and now he’s got an incredible piece of memorabilia to show for it.

Just days after the 23-year-old made his rookie debut, trading card company Topps has unveiled the official Eric Semborski rookie card. That’s right: the 23-year-old has his very own trading card. The card is part of Topps’ NOW series, which features milestone or memorable moments and are made available shortly after the achievement.

Semborski’s stint as the Blackhawks emergency goaltender came due to regular starting netminder Corey Crawford was sent to hospital to undergo an appendectomy. The Blackhawks were scrambling to find a replacement for Crawford, and a backup for Scott Darling, when they started asking around to find an emergency amateur netminder to fill in.

Semborski, a former goaltender at Temple University, was working with children at the Flyers’ practice facility when he was called to sign on for emergency duty. Hilariously, Semborski wore a Blackhawks No. 50 jersey — which most will recognize as Crawford’s number — when he took the ice for warmup. Of the chance to stop NHL shots in warmup, Semborski said it was the best moment of his life.

Possibly the only thing that could have made the moment better was if Semborski actually got into the game and, as it turns out, that was very nearly the case. Post-game, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said that had the Flyers scored on the empty net to stretch their lead in the Saturday afternoon contest, he would have thrown Semborski into the net for the final minute of the outing.

As for the card, there’s no chance it will be worth anything near what a Connor McDavid rookie card will be worth in a decade, but it’s certainly a nice piece of merchandise for the one-day NHL netminder.

Montreal can't panic over injuries to Galchenyuk and Desharnais

News

Montreal can't panic over injuries to Galchenyuk and Desharnais

While the loss of the two centers is a crushing blow in the short-term, this team is positioned too well to lose assets in a hasty trade scenario

The Montreal Canadiens will be without top center Alex Galchenyuk and fellow pivot David Desharnais for at least six weeks, perhaps even eight. Both players sustained knee injuries in recent games and the news is obviously not good. But GM Marc Bergevin would make it even worse by jumping into a hasty trade.

True, the Habs now look skeletal down the middle (though Tomas Plekanec isn't a horrible choice for the top line and Andrew Shaw can help out), but this is a short-term problem. Montreal is the top team in the Eastern Conference right now and with netminder Carey Price, they can win more than a few games in the next month or so just on the strength of his gifted play. And the Shea Weber-led defense has been better than expected, so even if the Habs are super-boring and conservative until February, they'll get some results.

Will Montreal still be on top by then? Maybe not, but as long as they don't lose like, 20 games in a row, they'll still be in a playoff position with enough runway left to climb back up the rungs. And as the Los Angeles Kings have proven twice already, you can win the Stanley Cup as long as you get into the playoffs, particularly if your goalie is one of the best on the planet (caveat: being a great possession team helps and the Canadiens are only middling).

But a trade is not the way to go, particularly since the Canadiens aren't deep to begin with. They don't have many attractive pro prospects right now – unless they can drum up interest in a Charles Hudon or Nikita Scherbak – and their best recent draft pick is defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, who should be seen as untouchable. I mean, if Pittsburgh offers up Evgeni Malkin for the 2016 first-rounder and a couple other goodies, you make that trade – but I don't think that's going to happen.

If anything, Montreal needs to build their pipeline up, instead of taking assets away from it. The Canadiens ranked just 23rd in the NHL in our most recent Future Watch edition and Sergachev was the only pick they made in the first two rounds this summer. They do have two second-rounders for 2017 (their own and Washington's selection), but again: they need those.

Galchenyuk and Desharnais will be back and in all likelihood, the Canadiens will still be in a playoff position. The short-term may seem a little bleak, but the price of a quick patch isn't worth the long-term loss. Patience is a virtue here.